BJD and chinese made objects.

I was given a similar little purse and two compact mirrors with BJD pictures on them last christmas. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but then I found out that the mirrors and the purse had images on them that had been copyrighted by the doll retailers who took them in the first place.

It's very hard to stop the production of items like these, because it's easy for anyone to just take a picture from the internet and add that picture to whatever item they please. One mirror I was given has a picture of DoD's tender Too & Bee-a and certainly isn't liscenced merchandise. I was given that by one of my parents back home in the UK but I've seen it in several shops and markets here in Iceland.

I wouldn't even know where to begin with filing a complaint about this sort of thing. I'm sure the folks at DoD wouldn't be too happy knowing their promo photos are being stuck on purses and mirrors without their consent

 

Copyright laws in China are apparently very different than in most countries, so unless it was a directly pirated bootleg, there isn't much one can do about it other than say, "Don't buy that!"

Not that everything out of China is bad. Many BJD companies in particular are Chinese, and most are talented, respectable, high-quality craft. Just educate yourself on it.

 

Pretty much all the images of BJDs you see on bags, buttons and compact mirrors are stolen unless they have been produced by the company who make the dolls or the owner of the doll or photographer who owns the image who have created the items for personal use. If people don't buy these items, the bootleggers won't make them.

 

This subject has been discussed several times on DoA, including this thread:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128154

 

There is already a discussion thread on this:

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=300131&highlight=mijn

Since that image was used without the permission of Volks, it is considered a copyright violation.

 

of course i would try to find out about the company and would be writing them to stop using pictures of my doll immediately. It doesn´t matter if it´s a photo of a doll or a sunrise as long as the one who has made it doesn´t even know.. not even mentioning that the person would get any money for it.. D:< So how would i react ? I would be super mad >___< !

 

I understand what your asking - you would like to know the human side not the copyright side - is that right?

Call me strange but if I took a photo of my doll and a company thought my doll and photo looked good enough to use I would of course like to know they were going to use the image but at the same time feel so proud that my doll was looking good enough that they felt others would enjoy their image!! Its kinda like a compliment to my doll if you get what I mean!!! sound silly and strange but thats how i would feel about somebody using a photo I put on the internet as nothing on the internet is really safe from people using it.

This is aside from copyright issues legit bootleg etc its just how I would feel about somebody thinking my photo was good enough to be used for others to see out there!!

 

As I have said before, if I ever caught anyone using an image or piece of writing in a product of theirs that I created without my permission I would sue them until they are bankrupt. I don't care if it is some small guy doing t-shirts via café press or a big Chinese exporter, if they use my material without my permission and the requisite financial recompense I would take them to court until it makes them bleed.

The only person who is allowed to make money out of the stuff I create is me. And I don't care about Chinese laws coz I would be suing them in an English court, and therefore, they would still fall foul of English law.

I would not even bother with a cease and desist notice other than just to go through that legal hoop before suing - I would instruct my solicitors to sue straight off the bat.

Phil.

 

And good luck with that lawsuit. It is incredibly difficult to sue Chinese companies over copyright infringement. I hope you're rich.

Anyway. I think I would be kind of pissed off if I found photos I'd taken on merchandise. Not quite pissed enough to really do anything, but I would be a bit angry. The financial rewards of pursuing legal action would be slim to none compared to the legal costs of trying to bring suit against an overseas company. Now, if the doll were some kind of minimee of ME or something weird ... I might do something.

 

The problem is that if you are a professional artist, as I assume the person who took those photographs is, then they are basically stealing from you. I'm a professional artist, and I had it happen to me. The former art director of a magazine I did illustrations for was fired and when he left, he took a lot of files with him- including some of my illustrations. He then used my illustrations later as a product designer for a company making boutique jams and jellies. He informed me after the fact, and offered me free inclusion in his online gallery as payment. Big Whoop. This was probably ten years ago, before people really did their own websites and he thought offering me a webpage would be plenty of payment. I didn't want it, I wanted to be paid for the use of my design and illustrations.
I contacted an intellectual properties lawyer who advised me for free and said that it was in fact copyright infringement and I could basically sue him for about $5000. I fought him over it for about a year, with him getting increasingly abusive in his emails. Basically I had told him, either pay me for the usage (and I simply asked my normal fee), or remove the artwork from the product.
Finally, a year later, after not hearing from him for a number of months, I received a check in the mail. No letter, no note, nothing, just a check for the initial amount I had asked for. So apparently at some point HIS lawyer had told him I was right.
So-if that was my photograph or artwork used on the product? Yes, I would be really annoyed.

And also- not only was it illegal for him to use it because it was my artwork, but also, the files technically belonged to the magazine that had fired him, so they could have gone after him as well.

 

I think I'd LOL and roll around a lot and brag to all my friends. XD;;; It would be different if they took a drawing of mine or something, then I would try and figure out how to contact them and make them cut it out, but a photo of a doll is not really worth the effort IMO. Maybe I would complain and try to get them to send me one of the items for free. XDDDDDDD

 

Art-theft is somewhat rampant with the advent of the internet, since the thought seems to be, they shared it, it must be fine to use it. If it were mine, I'd probably be put out that they never contacted me to ask. The photos I post here are not usually at a high enough resolution to be useful for products though (I have to size them down quite a bit to go through photobucket).
Now, I can see the Minimee thing being a double-edge. One might not like a picture of a Minimee of themselves being posted elsewhere, but I'm not sure how some of the folks that the doll heads are being made of feel about it, if they know. (also, this example of what can happen to photos other than products)

So, myself, I'd be sad they didn't ask me, because I would have loved to buy one of their products if they requested to use my photos, and if it was a company photo, again I'd be sad they weren't going through the company and probably making a crap-ton of money by selling them through the site too.


@ Cirquemom I'm really surprised your company didn't go after him (if they knew/know about it, that is). Companies tend to be fairly possessive of intellectual property.

 

Personally it's a really bothering matter but it can't be helped. We can't stop them doing that, because their response would be: "Then why do you put your pictures on the internet."

It bothers me the most because recently big companies that are not chinese also do this. Not with pictures of dolls.. well.. not yet with them BUT I saw some people on deviantart whose art was stolen by ZARA or other fashion companies and were put on shirts etc. When they have copyright.
I wonder when these companies start using dollpictures as well......

 

Personally, I wouldn't mind if my pictures were used for things like that. That is the risk I take by sharing my pictures with others through an online source and I am well aware of that before posting such content.

I am one of those that has the mentality of "If you aren't wanting to share, don't put it on the internet", as that is what happens when you put anything on the internet (photos, personal information, anything) - it gets shared with millions of people with or without you knowing it. Just the fact that it's there means it can be shared with others one way or another. Even if you remove it from a site that you think no one has seen, there may be a back up of it on the hosting website's server, meaning it still exists in cyberspace and is fair game for anyone savvy enough to gain access.

I am also one of those who agrees with the "Don't share something you're not comfortable losing" mentality. If your doll (and it's picture) is so special to you and you don't want people trying to copy it's looks, or take that exact photo, don't put those pictures on the internet where millions of people have access to it and can in all honesty, do what they want with the image they have just seen (both mentally and physically).

That is one reason I will never understand the people who get upset when other people copy their dolls. That is a risk of posting picture of your doll online, people can mentally store that image in their head, decide they like it and are free to recreate it and use it as they like, too.

Lastly, while I don't mind (read as; a neutral reaction) people taking and using my photos I am very pleased (read as; a positive reaction) when people ask before doing so. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know first-hand that people like it enough to use, while finding out secondhand by seeing the photo elsewhere is just a neutral reaction versus a positive one.

 

IF, [because almost certainly it will never happen to me], someone should use my doll images in a commercial product, I would try to contact the company.
I would ask them to please A. Give me credit (Public credit/Printed credit) and B. Stop producing the item. They can still sell it, they just can't make any more than they have up until now.
I would tell them that even if the image is public, it is still copyrighted and that I would be happy to let them use it if they asked for permission. I would also demand a small amount of the profit and/or ask for the items with my image for free.

In fact, it would be shocking and flattering if one of these Chinese companies did that.
But at the same time, a little insulting. I'm not worth the time to ask for permission? I would probably be traumatized and feel paranoia and never post anything ever again. Sorta like zapped! from seeing that. And angry. These people are making money off of something meant to be free and moreover, as their own and not mine. If they were selling it as if the product were mine, then I would still be all of the above and would demand a portion of the money earned from my work.

If I already had these merchandise selling, then I would do the above, only I would pester them until they stop and rant to other people.

In both situations, I wouldn't try to sue. It's almost like suing Petco for misrepresenting their products. Not worth the money.

 

Since we are talking about Chinese companies here, isn't it possible they don't know how to contact you (language barrier - may only speak/read Chinese) to ask even if they wanted to? I mean, if you wanted to use a picture from a Chinese website, do you know for sure you would know how to/be able to contact the owner of the website and ask for permission?